REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (12) - REVIVAL SONG

It has always been God’s intention to have a worshipping people. Psalm 117 says ‘Praise the Lord, all you nations; extol him, all you peoples.’ It’s something God wants. And it’s something that brings blessing to the worshipper. It’s John Piper who says ‘God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him’. And how better to be satisfied than through worship – communion with the One who made us.

It's no surprise that with the premium God puts on worship, worship itself is both a catalyst and a result of revival. The Welsh Revival of 1904 spread through song. The hymn ‘Here is love, vast as the ocean’ was particularly used by the Holy Spirit to spread revival fires.

In the earlier revivals of John Wesley and George Whitefield, song was again a key. In the mid-1700s not so many could read, so one way to remember scripture and key theology was to sing it, and that is exactly what happened. John Wesley’s brother Charles became the voice of the revival song, writing many classic hymns during this time such as ‘And can it be that I should gain?’, ‘Hark the herald angels sing’, ‘Love divine all loves excelling’, and ‘O for a thousand tongues to sing’.

We are enjoying revival at Chroma Church Leicester right now, so again, it is no surprise that worship is at its centre. We have a band, Chroma Music, that are passionate to worship. And it has been recognised. They have just returned from Rotterdam, leading worship in a conference of 20,000 and seeing many lives changed.

If you have yet to hear their music, look them up on YouTube. Enjoy the revival songs.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (11) - SUPERNATURAL PREACHING

I had heard it happen to others. But it had never happened to me. Until that night, that is.

I had just returned from a leaders’ meeting at Chroma Church. It’s important to note that leaders’ meetings at Chroma are a little different- around 100 of us gathered and for most of the time, it was a time of celebration as we listened to the amazing stories happening in and around us.

At the end of the evening, we all went through a ‘fire tunnel’. This is a kind of prayer tunnel with each of us walking between two lines of people as they pray prayers of blessing and invite the Holy Spirit to move upon us. And He did – move, that is.

By the time I got to the end of that praying tunnel, I was drunk in the Spirit. This is not something to be feared but something entirely Biblical (Acts 2: 15).

I drove home drunk (unlike alcohol, it’s considerably less dangerous!) and I went to bed drunk.

It was then that it happened. I dreamed I was preaching at Chroma. Nothing particularly strange there - I was due to preach in two Sunday’s time. But the strange thing is that as I awoke, I could remember every word of the preach, including the Bible verses I had used.

For me – for most of us – when I dream, it’s forgotten the moment I awake. But not this time.

My planned preach was ditched and two Sunday’s later, I spoke the words I had first received in that dream while still drunk in the Spirit.

It was on revival. Of course it was. We are still in revival at Chroma, and so grateful for all the Holy Spirit is doing with lives changed, new people finding a faith in Christ, and many being healed physically.

And the talk? It can be found here, starting at the 1 hour and 9 minute mark. Enjoy- and do visit us if you are not part of Chroma Church!

Cancel Culture, Woke and Christian Nationalism

I’ve been quite outspoken with regard to Black Lives Matter. I believe we are all racist to a degree – a reflection of our upbringing in the UK. But I struggle with cancel culture. Our history is our history. Warts and all.

So when a statue of a philanthropist who was also a slave owner is pulled down, we are trying to change our history. We can celebrate the philanthropist whilst denouncing the slave owner, without the need to ditch the statue.

We have a couple of strong narratives in our society at present. One is ‘woke’ culture. And the other is Christian Nationalism.

The BBC are the very biased promoters of wokeism. ‘Woke’ is the past participle form of ‘wake’, or ‘to awaken’. It suggests a need to wake up and see things differently. And there has been much we need to wake up to. But in recent times, it has become synonymous with a cancel culture. If a point of view doesn’t fit well with woke views, it should be cancelled, it should not be debated. Back to that statue again.

It can be seen in the appalling treatment of J K Rowling. She pointed out that a man in a dress shouldn’t be using the women’s loos. And for that she was cancelled from her own show. It can be seen in the prevalence for minority actors being given the lion’s share of roles. Actor Christopher Ecclestone comments that ‘white, straight, middle-aged men are [the] ‘new pariahs’’. It can be seen at the BBC with over 11% of staff relating to ‘other than heterosexual’ when the percentage in the UK as a whole is less than 2%.

And in case I’m accused of becoming right wing and reactionary (I vote Labour usually), there’s a similar problem with the Christian Nationalists. This is seen more in the US than over here, and is highlighted with the worship of Trump, so to speak. He was seen as the Christian messiah for US politics, despite his less than pure character and his tendency to belittle his enemies with the cruellest of taunts.

That Christians in the US still believe that the US election was stolen reflects on how far Christian Nationalism has had a hold. Christian Nationalism looks to see Christian principles in government at every level. What’s wrong with that? Nothing were they to be reflective of the Bible. But they’re not. They are reflective of an often-extreme right-wing view of politics, as shown with the storming of the Capitol building. People died for that warped view.

Woke and Christian Nationalism. Two narrative cultures of the current age. I’d like to suggest that neither is right. Both are extreme and lead to extremes. Against this is a 2000-year Christian view. It may not be popular with the cancel culture brigade, but it hasn’t changed. The narrative of the Bible has been expounded through the last 2000 years by people such as Tertullian, Athanasius, Martin Luther, right through to Billy Graham and Mother Teresa. Neither Woke nor Nationalist, it speaks up for the poor and downtrodden. It declares the values of marriage and community. It shouts from the rooftops that there is a God, that He came into our world through Jesus Christ, and that He still changes lives today.

It's a 2000-year narrative. And it can’t be cancelled.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (10) - THE EVANGELISTS STORY

There’s a great song doing the rounds at the moment. One of the lines declares ‘hell has lost another one.’

Well, this week, hell lost another 343. That’s the conservative estimate as to how many people in Leicester prayed a prayer asking Jesus to come into their lives. That’s the result of seven churches working together with evangelistic teams from Mission24.

Leicester is in early revival and the number of lives changed points to that. Although Mission24 always sees good numbers of people responding to Christ in their UK missions, the figures in Leicester are higher.

Leicester has a history of church break-up and division. As a result, the number of church-goers linked to life giving churches is around 3%. A figure of maybe 5% would be more usual for other towns and cities. So there’s some catching up to do as God brings a unity to the churches and the Holy Spirit touches lives on the streets and in church meetings.

How come Mission24 were there at all? Again, this is God moving in revival.

Jon Conrathe, the founder of Mission24, tells what happened to him:

It was back in May 2020. I had just put my head down to go to sleep one night when the room suddenly filled with the Presence of God and The Holy Spirit fell on me in an intense way…I found myself doubled over, groaning, praying in tongues, weeping and crying out to God for Leicester.

It was quite out of the blue, not pre
-meditated at all. God spoke of a demonstration of his greatness, of his power over the works of darkness, of the idols and gods of the nations falling. God said there will be unity, that He would reveal His glory. God spoke of Leicester becoming a sending city, from where teams will go around the UK and overseas bringing salvation and healing.

I said the Lord ‘Leicester?! Why Leicester? I don’t even like the place!’ Well, today I love Leicester …. The Holy Spirit has changed my heart! At the point God met me I had no knowledge of any prophetic words over Leicester. I had never heard anything from anyone about any promises from God for the city - it was all brand new to me.

There is more to come. As a faith response, Mission24 have embarked on a five-year plan of serving the churches, the city and the county.

A revival harvest is on the way.

*** Our good friend Leroy died this last week of a seizure. He was only in his early twenties. A central figure at Chroma Church, it’s a shock and he will be greatly missed. But, to change that song slightly, we can declare heaven has gained another one.***

Giving It A Go

This is the first picture that comes up on my screensaver each day. It’s a picture of a holiday brochure from 1970, for various boys Crusader camps.

It’s first on the screensaver for a reason. Nearly fifty-two years ago at one of those camps - St Davids, Wales - I prayed a prayer and asked Jesus Christ to come into my life. As a teenager, I remember thinking ‘I’ll give this a go’. Fifty-two years later, I’m still giving it a go. It remains the most profound moment of my life.

If you’re reading this and don’t have that Christian faith, can I encourage you to pray the prayer I prayed:

Lord Jesus

I know you are alive and are still changing lives today. Please change mine.

Forgive me Lord for my life lived without you.

I invite you in right now as my Lord and Saviour. Please come and change me.

Amen. 

Some friends find a faith in Christ at a moment of crisis. Some in floods of tears. For me it was pretty unemotional. I just gave it a go. Please do the same. Your life will be changed forever.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER (9) - COMING HOME

The revival continues.

28 wonderful people prayed a prayer of salvation last weekend when Ben Fitzgerald was with us. This week we have Jon Conrathe and the Mission24 team. They are working across all the churches in Leicester and we are praying for a great harvest.

We continue to see amazing things in our meetings. Oil on hands seems common. There is such a sense of the Holy Spirit’s presence. A visitor who had been in revivals in China said, ‘You do realise there is a special Holy Spirit presence here don’t you?’ Well, yes. And we’re grateful.

One lovely story from last week relates to a ‘prodigal’ – a girl returning to her faith. She came forward at one of the meetings. The wonderful thing is that not long ago a song called ‘Come Home’ was written by Chroma Music with her in mind. It’s beautiful and you can find it here. But even more beautiful is the fact that the subject of the song has done just that; come home.

REVIVAL IN LEICESTER ( 8 ) - CONTINUING

The revival in Leicester continues.

This is a bit of a catch-up blog as I have been out in South Africa for a month or so. And on arriving back, the revival is still here!

It was noticeable at the recent revival prayer evening that three or four people (including me) had oil on their hands. Oil is often a picture of the Holy Spirit. It can mean that the person with oil on their hands has an anointing to heal. I didn’t see it used in that way during the evening – but it certainly is a sign that God is with us!

The other thing I noticed on my return was the number of new faces. I counted twenty or so people I didn’t recognise at that same meeting and then observed most were also at church on Sunday. I understand the new faces are a good mix of those not yet saved, those recently saved and of Christians visiting.

We are seeing a steady stream of people finding a new faith in Jesus Christ. It’s rare that someone doesn’t pray a salvation prayer in a meeting. It’s not a flood, but there is a steady stream of new believers.

I work with an evangelism team. It would not be unusual for over 100 people on the streets to pray a salvation prayer in a five-day mission. But the problem is them then attending a local church. The percentage that do that is often as low as 2%. So the difference in what we are seeing at Chroma is that new believers are sticking. They are saved in a church environment and stay in that environment.

Among those not yet finding a faith, we are seeing a number of visitors of other faiths and those who would call themselves spiritual people on a journey. I pray they keep coming and find the answer to their searching.

At our recent baptisms we celebrated with people originally of a Buddhist and of Hindu faiths, now declaring Jesus.

People continue to be healed as well. One man had a severely painful leg for the last eight years. In one of the meetings, his leg went ‘floppy’ (his term for it!) At the end of the meeting, as strength returned to the leg, all pain had gone.

So yes, revival continues.